Snow: What is it?, Curious facts and much more

Snow is the name given to the frozen water that falls from the clouds due to a meteorological phenomenon, did you know that flakes are formed when ice crystals agglomerate? In short, snowfall is nothing more than a solid precipitation. We invite you to learn much more about the snow right here.

snow landscape

What is Snow?

At the same time it is known as the frozen water that falls in the form of precipitation, the Snowflake that we see fall from the sky to the ground and are made up of tiny ice crystals, this occurs when a place has temperatures below 0 ° C, which when they reach the surface of the earth cover all the space where they descend turning it into a complete white layer and that in the eyes of the human being is spectacular.

Like rain and hail, snow comes from the water vapor that forms the clouds, clearly its formation is different.

The etymological origin of the word snow is very simple and comes from Latin, it derives from "nix" and "nivis", which at the same time comes from the Greek "nifas" which can have the same translation with a relatively different meaning, such as that snow is made up of icy crystals gathered in the form of flakes.

The phenomenon that is produced by the fall of snow is called snowfall, it is very frequent in many countries that have very low temperatures, or at least in the winter season when degrees below 0 persist and snowfalls occur.

If the snowfalls are very strong, they can damage the infrastructure of buildings in entire cities and cause the activities of daily life to collapse and these can be interrupted, however the snow It is a means of attracting tourists and sports practitioners.

One of the peculiarities of the crystals that make up snow is that they have a fractal appearance, which is a geometric format made up of symmetrical hexagonal cotton flakes, which reach us in the form of precipitation and produce a very interesting optical effect when they fall.

When the clouds that contain them are broken by the water vapor subjected to temperatures below 0° C which can be measured with the help of weather instruments, this is what allows the snow to form little by little.

Some of the countries where snow falls are Moscow, which is the capital of Russia, Berlin in Germany, Vienna in Austria, Oslo in Norway, Montreal in Canada, Paris in France, among others.

In many places, the fall of snow It works as its main attraction and what generates a good source of income for tourists, one of these places can be Pico Bolívar, located in Sierra Nevada right here in Venezuela. In places where snowfall is in large quantities, they are taken as places where you can do different sports activities, such as skiing or snowboarding.

In addition to all this, the snow creates a spectacular and fantastic landscape where people create their own illusions, it is the snow capable of attracting many families and it also generates enormous profits in the places where its fall is precipitous. One of the functions that snow has is to protect crops and provide moisture, leading to good harvests.

Although the snow can present complicated situations in carrying out many activities, it also makes the places that have this meteorological condition a source of resources and monetary gains, at the hands of specialized industries and with organized systems that have few leaks where money escapes, although they also they must offer safe activities since snowy places can be as entertaining as they are dangerous.

In these places it is very normal to be able to observe entertaining families, children who have fun playing with the snowfall, such as throwing flakes at each other or making dolls that are engraved on the ground by the abundance of small ice crystals.

snow sports

La snow It can also have many disadvantages, such as blocking roads, highways, or it can also cause avalanches or landslides, when the snow layers are not homogeneous or due to the action of some movement that favors displacement.

There is also a kind of snow that is manufactured, which involves spraying compressed air and water on a mass of cold air in the place where we want to cover it with flakes, this mixture of air and water freezes and the incorporation of compressed air facilitates the creation of tiny ice crystals that will cover the surface or space where you want to create snowfall.

This type of snow is artificial and to be able to flake it requires a large amount of water and energy, therefore it is a very expensive procedure and requires a huge investment.

How is it formed?

It is tiny crystals of frozen water that grow in the atmosphere through the assimilation of water droplets, when they collide, they join each other, creating flakes, which then fall under their own weight. For this process to occur, the temperature at which the snow clots are created must be below zero °C. The formation of snow and hail are the same, the only difference is the temperature at which they are formed.

It forms when the atmospheric tempering is low and in addition to this there must be humidity in the environment, in the air, cold climates and abundant cloudiness, which is why water is called snow when it freezes or solidifies. As the snowfall falls, it accumulates on the surface and creates a cover in the places where it descends, as long as the temperature of the environment is always below zero degrees, it will last and continue to accumulate.

When the temple rises, the snow will start the thawing process, for the flakes to be able to create the temper, the environment must be less than 5°C. It could be that they are formed with a higher temperature, however, the ideal is always from minus 5°C.

People usually equate extreme cold with snowfall, and the truth is that most of the time snow it begins to fall when the tempering of the sediment is at 9° C or more, since elements of great value are not considered, such as the case of humidity in the environment, since wetting is the element that determines the fall of solidified water. at a certain site.

In environments that are quite arid, snowfall will not occur, despite the fact that the temper is very low, as an example of this we can mention the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, where everything is frozen, but there is no snow.

Sometimes the snowfall dries up, this happens when the flakes integrated with the humidity in the environment are crossed by a number of dry winds and that transforms the snow into a kind of powder that does not stick anywhere and is ideal for sports on the ground. ice cap

The grouped flakes after the snowfall occurs have different figures, depending on how the atmospheric movements unfold, that is, this will vary depending on whether there is thawing of the snow, strong winds, among others.

Snowflake Shapes

Snowflakes usually measure approximately a little more than a centimeter, despite the fact that their volume and formations are subject to the tempering of the environment and the type of snowfall.

The ice crystal flakes have endless structures: Plates, prisms, hexagonal, or the very common stars, these are what allow each snowflake to be exclusive, despite the fact that its totality has six sides. According to the low temper, the simpler is the crystal flake and the smaller in volume.

snowflake

PREMIUM QUALITY

We can find different prototypes of snow, depending on the way they fall or the way it accumulates, among which we can find:

  • Frost: It is a kind of snow that is created directly on the pavement, this occurs when the temperature of the environment is below zero and there is a lot of humidity, when this happens the existing water on the surface of the ground freezes and gives way to the formation of Frost.

The water that agglomerates in these places is almost always where there are strong winds, which is enough to drive the water to the trees and rocks that exist in the area, there are also large flakes with feathery textures or strong encrustations that work perfectly for To form a polar landscape beautiful and worthy of being photographed.

  • Frost Frost: Unlike the previous one, this one does have defined transparent forms, as is the example of scrolls, sword blades and chalices, the development of these is different from ordinary frost, they occur through the sublimation process.
  • powder snow: It is the most frequent and popular because of its spongy and very light shape. It is the one that due to the tempering between the different ends and the axis of the glass loses cohesion, this type is exemplary for skiing since it can be easily slid on it.
  • granulated snow: This kind of snow It is created by the constant cycle of thawing and refreezing that in areas where the temper is low but it is sunny, snow forms in thick, circular crystals.

  • rotten snow: Very common in periods when flowers bloom and the climate is temperate, it has humid and soft layers that are not very consistent, they can create landslides of aqueous snow or a displacement of the plate and it occurs in places where rain is scarcer.
  • snow crust: It occurs when the exterior casting water freezes again and forms a solid layer, it is the warm wind that allows this type of concentration to originate on the surface of the water, the repercussion of the rain and the sun.

Generally the blanket that is made is very thin and breaks when the boots or the ski pass over it, however there are times when the blankets that fall asleep are thick like a crust, for example when it rains and the water passes through the snow and freezes, this crust is very dangerous because it becomes very slippery and occurs in areas with little rainfall.

  • wind plates: It is a cohesive layer of snow, a plate that is formed with the snow that is transported by the wind, which is contributing a sequel of aging, rupture, concentration and solidification of all the bushes on the snow surface.

Solidification is more suitable when the air supplies more heat, although the heat provided by the air is not enough to dissolve the snow, but it can strengthen it by transformation, these snow clumps could break if the layers below they are more fragile and it is that moment in which avalanches form.

  • firnspiegel: This is the name given to the thin layers of crystalline ice that can be found in many snowy areas, this kind of ice causes a reflection when the sun hits them directly, the blanket is formed when the sun melts the snow on the surface and then it solidifies again. This blanket of ice causes a small greenhouse effect in which the lower layers dissolve.
  • Black ice: This is a thin layer of crystalline ice that is created when water freezes on top of a rock, the ice that forms is very slippery and forms very dangerous climbs.
  • Fusion Hollows: They are holes that are created due to the union of the snow in some areas and can achieve a very varied depth, at the edges of each hole the water particles are blurred and in the center of the hole, the water is trapped, this in turn forms a liquid layer which in turn causes more snow to melt.
  • Penitentes: They are formations that are produced when the fusion gaps grow too much, the penitentes are the pillars that are formed from the exchange of several gaps, pillars are formed that take on the aspect of slopes, these are propitiated in places in places with great size, high altitudes and low latitudes.

These are more developed in places like the Andes and Himalayas, where they can reach more than a meter, the pillars tend to lean towards the sun's rays at noon.

  • drainage channels: These occur when the melting season begins, drainage networks are created that cause the drainage of water, the real flow of water is formed within the snow layer, the water slides inside the ice sheet and ends up in the drains.

  • Dunes: Dunes are created by the movement of air over the surface of the snowfall, the snow dries and corrosive shapes with minute undulations and irregularities are created.
  • Cornice: The cornices are storages of snow at the top that constitute a special danger, because they hang forming an unstable mass that could detach when some weight is placed on it, it could simply be knocked down by strong winds and that could cause avalanches that are very dangerous for the animals and humans that pass through the place.

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